Anneke Jans in the New World

Happy release week.

Author: Sandra Freels

Simon & Schuster (She Writes Press)

Get book here

From the publisher:

Timed perfectly to publish just as New York celebrates its 400th birthday, a riveting story of a spirited young mother who faces the unknowns of seventeenth-century New Amsterdam after fleeing the Old World in search of a better life.

It’s 1630, and Anneke Jans has just arrived in the fledgling colony of New Netherland with her husband, Roelof, and their two young daughters to create a new life for herself and her family. One of very few women in the colony, Anneke quickly realizes that she will need to make her own rules if she is to survive.

Timed perfectly to publish just as New York celebrates its 400th birthday, a riveting story of a spirited young mother who faces the unknowns of seventeenth-century New Amsterdam after fleeing the Old World in search of a better life.

It’s 1630, and Anneke Jans has just arrived in the fledgling colony of New Netherland with her husband, Roelof, and their two young daughters to create a new life for herself and her family. One of very few women in the colony, Anneke quickly realizes that she will need to make her own rules if she is to survive.

When Roelof dies, Anneke marries Everardus Bogardus, the flamboyant minister of the Dutch Reformed Church. With this marriage, Anneke joins the elites of the colony—but when the colony’s new director provokes war with the region’s American Indians and her new husband emerges as the head of the anti-war opposition, she also finds herself in the midst of political turmoil. As difficulties mount, she must rely more than ever on her quick wits to protect herself and her growing family.

Based on real events, Anneke Jans in the New World tells the story of an ordinary woman who lived an extraordinary life.

Portrait believed to be Anneke Jans Bogardus.

My review:

4 stars

This work of fiction is very well done, giving us in the format of a novel all the historical, relevant, and chronological events that made Anneke Jans one of the most prominent pioneer women in the history of what is now known as New York. Her land would have been located close to today's Broadway, and from an illiterate woman who depended on her first husband, she survived and became one who had documents drafted to secure the future of her daughters and land (becoming, after her death, one of the most famous litigation cases still referenced).

The book is easy to read, with short chapters, scenes, and bursts rather than long exposition. It's more focused on informing than building dramatic plotlines with plot twists. It's historical fiction that gives us a good insight and pays homage to a great historical figure whom I had never heard of until now. The author took great care with in-depth research, and the book is very accessible even to younger readers, making it a great educational tool.

Thank you @booksparks for connecting me to this project #AnnekeJansInTheNewWorld

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